TWO Merseyside hospitals are spearheading the Government's success in cutting death rates from cancer, a new study has claimed.

TWO Merseyside hospitals are spearheading the Government's success in cutting death rates from cancer, a new study has claimed.

A progress report, three years into the 10-year Cancer Plan, says deaths among people under the age of 75 have fallen by 10pc since 1995.

And it has highlighted improvements in services at both Clatterbridge Centre for Oncology, Wirral, and at the Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals Trust.

At Clatterbridge, waiting times for radiotherapy treatment have fallen from 49 days to 17.4 days over the past 12 months, the report says.

The dramatic improvement follows the installation of three new linear accelerators, an advanced X-ray machine called a CT-simulator and better computer equipment.

Dr Brian Haylock, clinical director of radiotherapy, said: "New computerised treatment planning and imaging equipment has led to even safer and more precise treatments.

"This enables us to reduce the side effects to normal tissues and to improve the prospects for successful treatment by increasing the radiation dose to the tumour."

At the Royal Liverpool, meanwhile, the redesign of the radiology department was a runner up in the Health Service Journal awards this month where it was praised as a "flagship".

The department of health report, entitled Maintaining the Momentum, found there were 940 more cancer consultants than in 1997.

And 98pc of patients with suspected cancer were being seen by a specialist within two weeks of being referred urgently by their GP, compared to 63pc in 1997.

However, Health Secretary John Reid has ordered an investigation into a "postcode lottery" in the prescribing of a key cancer drug, called Herceptin.

Only 38.5pc of women in the North West are being given the drug, which was approved for use as long ago as March 2002, according to the charity CancerBACUP.

That compares to 61pc in the South West and 47pc in London, although the national average is only 33pc. Now Mr Reid has asked the Government's cancer "tsar", Professor Mike Richards, to carry out an investigation to find out if patients are being denied Herceptin and 16 other cancer drugs.

The report also found that unskilled workers are twice as likely to die from cancer as professionals, because they are more likely to smoke and less likely to eat fruit and vegetables.